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Last week’s blog post discussing the advantages of video conferencing in academia triggered a wave of response from this blog’s readership, particularly from members of the Video Conferencing Professionals LinkedIn group. Although the original post focused on areas where video conferencing has penetrated outside of the classroom setting, many of the comments tackled the distance learning concept and the effectiveness of using telepresence as a tool for engaging remote students.Lance Sturdevant, senior consultant at Thorburn Associates Inc., mentioned his belief that one of the key challenges associated with developing an effective distance learning telepresence system has been ensuring that interactions between the course leader and each student was seamless. Sturdevant specifically mentioned the perceived need to maximize meaningful eye contact in order to imitate face to face communication as much as possible. Rob Sheeley, President at Vaddio (@robsheeley), agreed, adding that a key factor in achieving this desired level of interactivity was to pay keen attention to the design of not just the studio from which the educator is broadcasting, but also the classroom where the students are located. He also posited that perhaps a group setting was not always necessary on the student end of the equation, and that individual learning locations for each person accessing the distance learning course could be a positive approach. Charles M. Danelutt, audio/visual design engineer at CMD Engineering Services, LLC, expanded on Sheeley’s original thought, indicating that engineers need to step up and create a video conferencing environment where educators do not have to concern themselves with technical or production details and can therefore focus exclusively on teaching.